White Meets White

We humans living in the early years of the 21st century have been witness to an event that most probably never previously occurred in human history. A meeting of Popes happened which is a first in the history of the Catholic Church or at least a first in the past seven hundred years. Pope Francis will meet with Pope Benedict XVI in order to produce the first Pope on Pope discussion. Pope Francis holds Benedict in high regard so we can assume this will certainly be a friendly conversation.

The over riding issue for Pope Francis is whether he can alter teachings that Pope Benedict firmly supported. There is scant doubt both Popes agree on most critical issues confronting the Catholic Church-abortion, birth control, marriage of priests and nuns, same sex marriage. The basic question is whether any of these issues is subject to change. That must be the gist of their conversation.